Long before modern conservation efforts, people living along the banks of the Nuwejaars River relied on the wetlands not just for water, but for many of its natural resources.

These waterscapes provided food, medicine, building materials and grazing, a tribute to the close connection between wetlands and people.

The world marks World Wetlands Day on 2 February – and this year the focus is on wetlands and traditional knowledge. This knowledge is still prevalent at Africa’s southernmost wetlands, with these waterscapes supporting humans for centuries – and likely even longer.  

For generational landowners who have farmed in the Nuwejaars Wetlands Special Management Area (NWSMA), the river and wetlands were essential: a reliable water source for households and livestock, and a provider of food for the table. 

(From left to right): John October and Marthinus Barends (Elim Overseers Council members) and Alliston Appel, also an Elim resident, look out over the historic town from the Geelkop reserve.

Knowledge passed down over centuries 

For the historic town of Elim, also a member of the NWSMA, which celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2024, the relationship with the wetlands runs deep. The knowledge of how to live with – and from – these wetlands continues to be passed down, even as modern technology replaces many of the wetland’s uses.  

According to Alliston Appel, Elim resident and Senior Socio-Economic Transformation Officer at the Agulhas National Park, there is evidence that people lived and moved through this landscape long before written records. “Early human communities would have followed the river, because it would have given access to animals like bontebok, as well as food plants and fresh water.”

Left: Marthinus Barends (left) and John October point out ‘pannetjiesriet’, which was used to thatch roofs in the past. Right: Alliston Appel shows how ‘matjiesgoed’ was used to create strong rope.

Much of that knowledge of how the wetlands were used is still alive today.  

For John October, a member of the Elim Overseers Council, wetlands and nearby fynbos have always provided essential building materials. “Restios were used for thatching roofs. Originally, we used pannetjiesriet (Elegia tectorum). It was so durable that it could be reused even 80 years later.” 

The thatch was traditionally tied using a reed that grows in these wetlands, Cyperus textilis, known locally as matjiestou or matjiesgoed. It was also used to weave mats to cover huts. This wetland plant was harvested, dried and treated to make incredibly strong binding material – often lasting a lifetime. 

Wetlands and surrounding fynbos also served as an open-air pharmacy and pantry. 

 “All the knowledge came from being in nature every day,” says Alliston. “People learnt by observing, testing and sharing.” 

Plants like Strandsalie (Salvia africana-lutea) were brewed into tea to treat coughs and colds. Helichrysum, known as kooigoed, was used as bedding – believed to keep spiders and other critters away and protect against evil spirits. 

“When you were hungry, you tried what nature offered,” Alliston says. “In September we ate the berries of num-num, also known as lemoenbossie (Carissa macrocarpa). Taaibos (Searsia pyroides) also has edible berries. These plants sustained people.” 

Marthinus Barends, also a member of the Elim Overseers Council, recalled his younger days as a child swimming in the river and eating palmiet. The palmiet leaves (Prionium serratum) were also used many years ago and weaved into a mat as the first layer of the thatch roof’s “brandsolder” (a layer to catch burning thatch in the event of fire). 

A tasty addition to honey beer

As a young person, he would also eat vygies (Carpobrotus edulis), used for everything from sunburn to stomach ailments: “It activates your saliva when you’re tired, so you don’t feel how thirsty you are. And because it’s alkaline, it helps with stomach acid.” 

 ‘Suurvy”, or Carpobrotus acinaciformis, was also a quick and easy meal. “You could collect it in an ostrich egg or tree bark or hollowed out pumpkin: firstly you break open the fruit, scratch out the seeds, stir the jelly fruit and eat it.”  

 Another species, Athanasia crithmifolia, known as ‘klaas louw’, grew along Elim’s streams and was used to treat headaches and stomach pain – and was sometimes combined with home-made brandy or honey beer. 

While the Nuwejaars River Nature Reserve works to protect these living landscapes, World Wetlands Day also offers an opportunity to better understand the knowledge, stories and benefits that wetlands hold to people, to also ensure that like our natural world, these too are not lost.  

Images supplied by LoveGreen Communications.